1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic element, and more specifically, to an electronic element having a structure enabling a three dimensional packaging.
2. Description of the Background Art
As shown in FIG. 45, external terminals 201 of a conventional electronic element (such as a semiconductor element) 200 are often arranged in a line along the sides of electronic element 200 to be suitable for an arrangement on a planer (two-dimensional) substrate such as a print circuit board 210. As a variation of the external terminals, substantially spherical electrodes referred to as bump electrodes may be provided on the same plane facing to the print circuit board of an electronic part.
Additionally, as shown in FIG. 45, in an electronic device (such as a semiconductor device mounted with semiconductor elements compositively) 300, when packaging electronic element 200 to print circuit board 210, electronic element 200 is arranged on a surface of print circuit board 210 two dimensionally, and connected to other electronic device via external connection terminals 220 provided at periphery of print circuit board 210.
As for the electronic device employing the electronic element above, often a plate-like substrate that only utilizes the space two-dimensionally is used, which requires efforts for designing in efficient placement of the plate-like substrate, conforming to various constraints related to the design of final products. Further, in some cases, modification of the design of the final products is required.
The object of the present invention is to solve the problems above, and to provide the structure of an electronic element enabling free arrangement of an electronic device addressing various designs of the final products, and an electronic device using the electronic element.
An electronic element according to the present invention to solve the problems above includes: an electronic part; a wiring board formed with a flexible material and arranged to surround the electronic part with a prescribed wiring pattern provided to an outer surface thereof for electrically connecting to an electrode area of the electronic part; and a plurality of external terminals arranged to an outer surface of the wiring board three-dimensionally and connected to an electrode area of the wiring pattern for electrically connecting to outside. As the electronic part above, an active element such as a semiconductor chip, and a passive element such as a capacitor and a resistor are included.
According to this configuration, since external terminals are provided to the outer surface of wiring board three-dimensionally, not only conventional two-dimensional arrangement but also three-dimensional arrangement can be implemented in the layout of an electric element. As a result, when designing an electronic device formed with a plurality of electronic elements, the shape of the electronic device may be determined more freely as compared to the conventional shape, and thus freedom in designing the electronic element can largely be improved.
According to an electronic device, the device is configured by connecting respective selected external terminals of the electronic elements above. By employing this configuration, since the electronic elements are arranged three-dimensionally, when designing an electronic device formed with a plurality of electronic elements, the shape of the electronic device may be determined more freely as compared to the conventional shape, and thus freedom in designing the electronic element can largely be improved. Additionally, the number of signals may drastically be increased.